Scars
by geniusalias
Summary: Zuko and Katara love each other, scars and all. Short, sweet, and a little smutty.


Scars

The bluff jutted out over the freezing sea, which churned and writhed against the jagged rocks below. A bitter wind ravaged the tall summer grasses, but they were warm beside the fire. Zuko had wrapped his cloak around Katara's shoulders, as he had every night since they'd begun traveling together, despite her protests. The cloak smelled like ashes and honey. Sometimes, when he wasn't looking, she would press the tattered cloth to her face and breathe in his scent.

Zuko bent the fire, sending sparks up into the night air to glow like fireflies before fading against the deep black sky. Forked tongues of flame hissed as coils of smoke slithered over the wind. The entire fire seemed to pulse. Katara remembered how Zuko had told her that when he firebent, he imagined the fire as an extension of himself, like a heartbeat outside of his chest. Ever since she was little, fire and the Fire Nation had frightened Katara, but when Zuko firebent it was hypnotizing. She felt like a moth fluttering on papery wings, drawn too close to the light, with a secret desire to be burned.

"What are you staring at?"

Katara woke from her trance blushing, her cheeks warmer than the fire. "Nothing!" She could hear the lie in her voice.

Zuko frowned and gave his head a slight shake, letting his hair fall across his face. "After all this time… does it still look that bad?"

It took her a moment to understand that he was talking about his scar. "You thought I was staring at… oh, Zuko, no!" She reached to cup his cheek in her hand, but he shrugged her away. "I'm sorry. I could have healed it."

Zuko winced. The memory of their time in the earth kingdom caverns was still painful for him. Katara had forgiven Zuko for his betrayal, but he had not yet forgiven himself. "I know. You did everything you could to help me, even when I didn't deserve it. I don't blame you for that, Katara."

They sat in silence, their eyes reflecting the dying fire. After a moment, Katara took Zuko's hand. "I'm glad I didn't heal you in Ba Sing Se." She said at last.

"What?" His eyebrows furrowed, the way they always did when he was confused, and his voice rose with indignation. "Why would you say that?"

He looked so affronted that Katara had to giggle. "Because I _like _your scar, stupid. It's a part of who you are. Your scar shows the world that you've known hardship, but you survived. You never gave up. You learned from your experiences and you grew. Your scar is a reminder of how you became the man you are today. Besides…" She gave him a mischievous grin. "Didn't you know that girls like a guy with scars? It makes him look tough."

Now it was Zuko's turn to blush. "Um, I guess I never really thought of it that way before." He finally stammered, brushing his hair away from his face. "Do girls really like guys with scars?"

Katara rolled her eyes. "I want to show you something." She stood abruptly, her hair falling over her shoulders and down her back in a cascade of brown curls and braids. Zuko's eyes widened as Katara removed the cloak, letting it drop around her ankles. She slipped her arm from her dress, baring her left shoulder and upper back, then sat facing away from him so he could see the skin she'd exposed. Zuko gasped, and the fire flared when he did. The skin on Katara's back was milky white where it should have been dark, and puckered where it should have been smooth. It was stretched taught over her shoulder blade and spine, so taught that it shone. The scar trailed over her whole shoulder, and he could see that more of it was hidden under her clothing. "It's bad, isn't it? Don't worry, it isn't a burn. Sokka and I were playing in the snow when we were kids, and I fell and cut myself on the ice. Then there's this one." She lifted the skirt of her dress the reveal a thinner, redder scar on the inside of her thigh. It was very intimate, she knew, but it felt right that Zuko should see these parts of her. She wanted him to. "This one is from Azula. She scratched me when we were fighting on the day of Sozin's Comet." Zuko brushed the scar with his fingertips, and she closed her eyes against the touch. They had never allowed themselves to be this close before. "I have another scar on my stomach, and a few on my hands and arms. I never got the chance to heal them, and I'm glad. Our scars are a part of who we are, Zuko. And I love your scar because… because I love you."

When he kissed her, the fire blazed hotter and fiercer than before. He pressed against her with such heat he thought he'd surely melt into her and live in her bones. She kissed him back, hungrily, her lips and teeth and tongue starving for words unsaid and kisses unkissed for years. She knotted her fingers in his hair and ran them over his chest, leaving little marks of her own. He stroked her scars with the pad of his thumb, and there was lightning in his fingertips. She moaned when he stroked the spot on her thigh, and he broke away from her mouth to kiss her there. Katara was already halfway out of her clothes, and now Zuko was stripping, both of them shaking, though not from the cold. He lowered her beneath him, gently despite their desperation. She guided him to the wetness between her legs, and then he was inside her. It was fitting that they made love there, with the sea roiling beneath them and the fire blazing beside them. That night, water and fire became one, scars and all.


End file.
